Introducing beta.digitalnz.org
Posted on 23 September 2016 by Fiona
Today beta.digitalnz.org says 'Kia ora world!' and takes a little bow. We're very pleased to introduce you to the work we've been undertaking over the last months and encourage you to have a click around and explore our new site.
This is the first small step in the journey that is refreshing and upgrading the digitalnz.org search site. You will see that the beta is a basic version of the current www.digitalnz.org. On beta.digitalnz.org you can:
– search across the collections of nearly 200 content partners.
– filter your results by content partner, collection, usage, date, and type.
– look at individual items.
– leave the beta to see the rich digital content that DigitalNZ points to.
The main change you will see in the beta is the approach to the filters. We've made some changes which mean you can combine filters in ways that were previously not possible, making it a more flexible interface for you to search.
The filters are still a work in progress, and we look forward to getting your thoughts on how we can make these better. In fact, the whole beta is a work in progress and we'll be making regular changes (both in the design and how the site actually works) to the site based on our testing and your feedback.
All of the major changes we're making to beta.digitalnz.org this year will be iterative. 'Iterative' is a bit of a tech buzzword, but we simply mean that we'll be starting with the very basic search service that we're introducing today, and then adding components, rather than launching with a fully finished site with all the bells and whistles.
There's a bit more on how we're rolling out our work this year in this previous blog post. We're also keeping a detailed record of what we're working on, and the problems that we've fixed, in our release notes. So please check them out if you're interested in these details.
Our iterative approach means we can build a site that you, our excellent users and content partners, would like and will find most useful. We'll be testing and talking to you all the time and would love it if you gave us your feedback. You'll see a feedback box in the right-hand corner of the beta which you can use to give us feedback directly, or you can email us at info@digitalnz.org, or chat with us on Twitter @DigitalNZ.
We've turned off comments here, but we'd still love to know your thoughts. Visit us on our Facebook Page @digitalnz or on Twitter @DigitalNZ to share any ideas or musings with the DigitalNZ team.